Waikato District Council 2018 Representation Review Final Proposal

Please
be notified that the appeals/objections period for the Waikato District Council
2018 Representation Review Final Proposal opens 12 September 2018 and will
close at 5.00pm on 12 October 2018.

As
required by the Local Electoral Act 2001 (LEA), the Waikato District Council
has considered submissions it received on its Initial Proposal regarding
representation arrangements that will apply to the local elections to be held
in 2019.

In summary, of the 147
submissions received:

19 submitters indicted their
support of the Initial Proposal;

126 submitters indicated that
they did not support the Initial Proposal;

2 submitters gave no indication (or it was not clear to
determine) if they did or did not support the Initial Proposal;

26 submitters indicated that they wished to speak at the hearing
for the Initial Proposal (of which 15 submitters did speak at the scheduled
hearing).

At its
meeting on 10 September 2018 the Council resolved, in accordance with the
provisions of the LEA, its Final Proposal for representation arrangements that
will apply to the local election to be held in October 2019, and subsequent
elections until altered, as follows:

1
Mayor elected at large;

3
councillors elected from 10 wards;

that
the population of each ward, and the names of these wards, be represented as
follows:

Ward

Ppln

Cllrs

Average

Fits Rule

% Variation

Awaroa ki Tuakau

12,640

2

6,320

No

11%

Eureka

5,579

1

5,579

Yes

-2%

Hukanui-Waerenga

5,990

1

5,990

Yes

6%

Huntly

10,310

2

5,155

Yes

-9%

Newcastle

5,690

1

5,690

Yes

0%

Ngaruawahia

10,350

2

5,175

Yes

-9%

Onewhero-Te Akau

5,460

1

5,460

Yes

-4%

Raglan

5,790

1

5,790

Yes

2%

Tamahere

5,699

1

5,699

Yes

1%

Whangamarino

6,202

1

6,202

Yes

9%

that
there be 30 community board members be elected from 5 community boards as
follows:

COMMUNITY BOARD

MEMBERS

Onewhero-Tuakau
Community Board

6

Huntly
Community Board

6

Taupiri
Community Board

6

Ngaruawahia
Community Board

6

Raglan
Community Board

6

The
Council previously made the decisions in 2017 to retain the First-Past-the-Post
electoral system and not to introduce Maaori wards into the Waikato
District.

Council
has chosen to make amendments to their Initial Proposal. Amendments have been made for the following
reasons:

Retain
Rangiriri in the Whangamarino Ward, from the Huntly Ward. oReasoning:
submissions received supported this amendment.

Retain
Mercer in the Awaroa ki Tuakau Ward, from the Whangamarino Ward (exceeding
fair representation rules set out in the LEA).oReasoning:
submissions received supported this amendment. Submissions received from Mercer
supported inclusion in a single ward; considered that Mercer identifies with
northern communities.

Retain
Onewhero Tuakau Community Boards current structure and board area with the
inclusion of the extended Tuakau north and west boundary incorporating the meshblocks.oReasoning:
submissions received supported retention of the Onewhero-Tuakau Community
Board.

Council has not rejected any
submissions received on the Initial Proposal.

The meshblocks that were
initially proposed to be moved on the south-eastern border of Whangamarino Ward
to the Hukanui-Waerenga Ward received no submissions against, so these
meshblocks will be moved as part of the Final Proposal. There being no
submissions received on the Initial Proposal to move several meshblocks on the north-eastern
boundary of the Awaroa ki Tuakau Ward to the Whangamarino ward (excluding those
meshblocks that include the village of Mercer and are being moved to the Awaroa
ki Tuakau Ward), these meshblocks will be moved as part of the Final Proposal. All other ward boundaries will remain as they
currently are.

In
accordance with section 19V(2) of the LEA, the population that each councillor
represents must be within the population range of 5,670 plus or minus 10%
(5,670 being the total population of 73,710 in the Waikato District divided
between 13 councillors). This means that each councillor must represent
somewhere between 5,103 and 6,237 people.

By
amending the Initial Proposal and retaining the village of Mercer in the Awaroa
ki Tuakau Ward, the two ward councillors will be exceeding this threshold and
the Waikato District will be non-compliant with fair representation criteria.
The Waikato District Council 2018 Representation Review Final Proposal will
therefore be treated as an appeal under section 19V(5) of the LEA and referred
to the Local Government Commission following the appeal/objection period for
determination.

Notice of appeal and objection
process

Any
person who made a submission on the Waikato District Council 2018
Representation Review Initial Proposal may lodge an appeal against the
Council’s Final Proposal in accordance with section 19O of the LEA. The appeal must contain issues/matters raised
in the appellant’s submission on the Initial Proposal.

As
Council has chosen to amend their Initial Proposal, any person who is opposed
the Final Proposal may lodge an objection against it in accordance with section
19P of the LEA. The objection lodged
must identify the matters to which it relates.

Appeals
and objections must be made in writing to Waikato District Council by 5pm 12 October 2018 and must include
your name and contact details.

If
you have any queries/require further information about this notice please
contact Stacey Solomon on 0800 492 452 or visit the consultation page on
Council’s website www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/sayit.